A new company is trying to help failing newspapers do more with less. Massachusetts-based Helium offers a fee-based software widget that assists papers in finding and picking stories from their readers.

Reader submissions are evaluated and ranked by 150,000 Helium users on a Web site run by Helium, as a way to identify stories most appropriate for the newspaper's site or print publication. So far, GateHouse Media's State Journal-Register in Springfield, Ill., has signed up for the program.

The service is tapping into a gnawing problem in the news business: Staff resources are evaporating, but the demand for news, especially online, is growing. Read the whole story...

The media marketplace could be mired in a recessionary climate for the next three years, according to Rino Scanzoni, GroupM chief investment officer. He insists that the current downturn will last significantly longer than the dip experienced in 2001. "It will be a very slow process."

Scanzoni, speaking on a International Radio and Television Society panel, said that next year overall media spending could be down 2% to 3% percent -- or flat at best.

But all is not lost. He also cited two positives: Commodity prices are dropping, which eases the pressure on corporate profits, and the downturn should spark innovation as buyers, sellers and clients try to be more effective and efficient. Read the whole story...

CBS is taking advantage of the fact that TV soundtracks can be a good way to promote emerging artists. The network has been using the theme song on its comedy "The Ex List" to get the word out about Karmina, a recording artist on the CBS Records label.

Although the show was put on hiatus, the experiment does speak to the integral role played by theme songs in TV shows. "It makes a lot of sense for networks to want to start their own labels, just so they have total control. They can go out and shop for artists that fit their message," says Julianne Hintz, music marketing executive.

Using its media assets to promote its artists was one of the attractions when CBS revived CBS Records in 2006. Expect the net to increasingly look to its TV shows to spark awareness of its artists' songs. Read the whole story...